CPR works just fine using hands only, without mouth-to-mouth, in most cases and having a go could save many lives.

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"No-one wants to go up to someone who's lying on their back, who looks like they're dead, and kiss them."

These words from emergency medicine specialist Dr Paul Middleton sum up bluntly one of the key reasons many of us would be reluctant to perform the 'kiss of life 'to try to bring a stranger back to life.

After all, mouth-to mouth — where you put your open mouth over an unconscious person's mouth and breathe into it — has traditionally been an important part of cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR).

That and pressing on their chest to try to circulate some blood from their heart to their brain.

It turns out CPR works almost as well when you rely on 'hands only' chest compressions and skip mouth-to-mouth altogether.

(The are two exceptions to this — children and people who've drowned — both of whom get an important survival edge from the extra oxygen mouth-to-mouth provides. But in all other cases, the difference is not enough to worry about.)

When someone collapses unconscious and stops breathing, it is known as a sudden cardiac arrest, which is different from a heart attack, although a heart attack may trigger a cardiac arrest.

Of the 30,000 Australians who suffer sudden cardiac arrest each year, only about 10 per cent survive. And it is not just our aversion to mouth-to-mouth that is to blame.

Too many of us don't have the basic CPR skills to keep someone who's had a cardiac arrest alive until an ambulance arrives.

Also, there aren't enough easily accessible defibrillators (devices that shock a heart back into a normal rhythm) around.

We need change in both these areas, according to Dr Middleton, who chairs the Australian Resuscitation Council (NSW) and recently founded a new charity Take Heart Australia (THA) to take on the challenge.

THA aims to dramatically increase the number of Australians trained in CPR.

Dr Middleton said basic training could be done in as little as 15 minutes. It also wants to make heart-starting defibrillators much more readily available in public places.

A race against time

What to do if someone collapses teaser

What to do if someone collapses unconscious and is not breathing:

Call triple-0 and yell loudly for help (both with the CPR and to locate the nearest automated external defibrillator).

Start 'hands only CPR': push hard and fast with the heel of your hand in the centre of the person's chest. (You don't need to do mouth-to-mouth unless it's a drowning victim or a child.)

Keep doing it until someone comes. Don't stop."We know people run out of steam after about two minutes, even the strongest muscly people. So it's really important to be yelling for backup while you're doing it," Dr Middleton says.

When a portable defibrillator arrives, attach pads to the person's chest. "Defibrillators can be used by someone in the street. You don't have to be a trained person." The machine will give out voice instructions to tell you exactly what to do.

Once you've shocked the heart to restart it, continue CPR until breathing resumes or the ambulance arrives to take over.

Knowing what to do when someone has a cardiac arrest is vital because brain damage from lack of oxygen sets in within three minutes and within 10 minutes the person will be dead.

An ambulance usually takes eight to 10 minutes to arrive. So the person who's collapsed needs high-quality CPR from the moment they go down.

For every minute without CPR, there is a 10 per cent increase in mortality.

"If you do high-quality CPR, the rate of mortality drops to 3 to 4 per cent every minute. So you effectively double or treble the amount of time you've got available," Dr Middleton said.

This means potentially saving as many as 12,000 Australians' lives a year — including many young people.

One person who knows this only too well is 41-year-old Cassandra Scott, whose heart stopped when she was swimming at Coogee Beach in NSW in 2012.

She was saved and has no brain damage because four bystanders knew how to do CPR and their combined efforts brought her back to life.

"Cardiac arrest is a really random thing. It can happen to anyone. You don't have to be overweight or anything," Ms Scott said.

"You can be a normal fit healthy person in your 20s or 30s, and there goes your heart."

"One in 10 people survive cardiac arrest. If you do the right thing, a lot more people can be saved. It should be a life skill. Like brushing your teeth," Dr Middleton said.

In Seattle in the USA, CPR training is a requirement to get a driver's licence or go to university.

Three quarters of the population are trained there and survival rates from many cardiac arrests are as high as 60 per cent.

At present there is no record of where defibrillators in Australia are located, although Dr Middleton said they were at most airports and train stations and some public buildings.

An app is being developed that will dial triple-0, alert any bystanders trained in CPR in the area, and show where the nearest defibrillator is.

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